Jozef Poniatowski

Jozef Antoni Poniatowski (7 May 1763-19 October 1813) was one of the Marshals of the Empire of Napoleon during the Napoleonic Wars.

Biography
Jozef Antoni Poniatowski was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1763 to the noble Poniatowski family of Poland-Lithuania. He enlisted in the Austrian Army and fought in the Second Russo-Turkish War in 1788-1792, taking Sabac on 25 April 1788. He saved a young officer named Karl Philip Schwarzenberg from death, a fatal error.

During the War of the Second Partition (1792), Poniatowski served under Tadeusz Kosciuszko against Russia, but failed to prevent Poland-Lithuania from falling to the hands of the Russian Empire. In 1794 he fought in the Kosciuszko Uprising against the Russians and Prussians, but this was also put down. Poniatowski refused to join the Russian Army or assist them in administration, citing "poor health" from past war wounds as a reason.

When France conquered Poland from Prussia in 1806 and liberated Warsaw to form the Grand Duchy of Warsasw, Poniatowski became Minister of War of the independent Poland. In 1809 he officially became commander-in-chief of the Army of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, succeeding Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout as the commander. He defeated an Austrian invasion in 1809, and in 1812 he took part in the Russian campaign. He fought with distinction amidst the many setbacks for Napoleon, and continued to fight under him during the German Campaign.

At Lobau on 9 September 1813 and the Battle of Zedtlitz on 10 October, he defeated the Austrians, and at the Battle of Leipzig, he was made a Marshal of France. Poniatowski was covered with wounds and half of his corps was lost, and he attempted to escape over the Elster. The French accidentally blew up the bridges before he reached them, and he drowned while trying to cross.